As the population of the world increases, a major goal of agricultural research is to improve the grain yield of crop plant species.
Such improvements have until recently depended on selective breeding of plants for desirable characteristics. However for many plants the heterogeneous genetic compliments produced in off-spring do not result in the same desirable traits as those of their parents, thus limiting the effectiveness of selective breeding approaches.
Advances in molecular biology now make it possible to genetically manipulate the germplasm of both plants and animals. Genetic engineering of plants involves the isolation and manipulation of genetic material and the subsequent introduction of such material into a plant. This technology has led to the development of plants that are capable of expressing pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, plants with increased pest resistance, increased stress tolerance, and plants that express other beneficial traits.
Improvements in the grain yield of plant crop plants may be achieved by developing plants that produce more seed or grain than the equivalent wild-type plants.
Thus, there exists a need for plants with increased seed yield relative to their normally cultivated counterparts.
It is an object of the invention to provide improved compositions and/or methods for developing plant varieties with improved seed or grain seed yield or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.